ARTICLES ABOUT INCOME TAX BY DATE - PAGE 4

The investigation began in March with the discovery that 49 Aventura police officers and six other people connected to the city government were victims of identity theft and tax fraud in the 2011 income tax season, authorities said. On Tuesday, the inquiry led to six South Florida residents being indicted on charges they operated a major identity theft ring out of a Pompano Beach home on the 1200 block of Northeast Fifth Street. The four men and two women are accused of using the money to do everything from make child support payments online to take vacations in Orlando and rent BMWs at Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami airports.

A 30-year-old Fort Lauderdale man was indicted on federal tax fraud charges and accused of using identity theft to get income tax refunds, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer announced Tuesday. Lee Ervin Dale is facing 14 counts for filing false income tax returns with the IRS, using stolen identities, and getting government income tax refunds, according to the indictment. Dale cashed 11 government checks in 2008 and 2009, made out to different identity theft victims. The checks totaled $91,167, the indictment alleged.

This is a small primer for all the whiners crying that the rich don't pay their fair share. Let's start with the basics: income taxs. It is the amount paid, not the precentage, that counts. Now, go to state sales tax. The rich buy more expensive food and more expensive cars; they buy boats, Harleys and, of course, jewelry. All this is taxed, and in South Florida that produces quite a bit of revenue for the state. How about property taxes? Would any of you care to guess who pays the lion's share of the taxes for your kids' schools.

Other than raising questions about his judgment, his opportunism, his inflammatory comments, his accuracy and his tact, I would say Mitt Romney's remarks about President Obama following the Libya attack were a roaring success. Not. By criticizing Obama immediately after the attacks, Romney raised questions about his recklessness and his ability to handle sensitive foreign policy issues that always arise. Not that Romney doesn't have foreign policy experience.

For those who think tax rates don't matter to an economy, consider some data gleaned a while back by The Wall Street Journal from the last census. From the turn of the century to 2010, the United States population grew by 27 million, bringing the total population to nearly 309 million. The 10 fastest growing states, with an average population gain of 21 percent, included Nevada, Utah, Texas, the Carolinas and Florida. All 10 states have relatively low personal income tax rates or no personal income tax at all. The average tax rate came to 4 percent.

Let's stop all this "class warfare" stuff once and for all. Let's stop fighting over whether a 3 percent income tax increase is fair. Let's get rid of income taxes, capital gains taxes, death taxes, interest, deferred interest, money on income held offshore, dividends, sales taxes, fees and tolls for roads, property taxes both local and state. Get rid of all of it. Instead of all these taxes and fees, let's go to a simple flat tax on net worth. Net worth would include all earnings of every type: wages, capital gains, interest income, deferred interest income, offshore holdings, stock holdings, bonds, and real estate and property of all types (real and personal)

When former South Florida lawmaker Mandy Dawson is sentenced Friday for tax crimes related to a pay-to-play political corruption case, she wants a federal judge to give her a lighter punishment because of her depression and ongoing illegal drug abuse problems. Dawson admitted that she abused cocaine on one occasion while she was free on bond since being arrested a year ago on the federal charges, court records show. The court documents don't explain why Dawson, who turns 56 on Wednesday and now lives in Daytona Beach, remained free after a urine test she took on May 7 tested positive for cocaine.

A 32-year-old Hollywood man is one of two people indicted for identity theft in a tax fraud scheme, according to U.S Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer. The 15-count indictment alleges Edwin Bonannee and Sabrina Balkman-Bradwell, 47, formerly of Hialeah, received tax refunds using the stolen identities of victims, both living and dead. They also recruited others to file false income tax returns with fictitious employer information, prosecutors said. Both are accused of organizing the filing of 32 tax refund claims netting $108,496.

A Plantation woman who claimed that a federal judge owed her $600 million was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for unrelated income tax crimes. A jury found Roanne Eye, 58, guilty of interfering with the administration of Internal Revenue laws and filing false income tax returns, after a February trial. Eye, a former bank worker and financial software expert, has been locked up since she tried to leave the courtroom after the verdict. During the case, she sent U.S. District Judge James Cohn letters and forms claiming she would release him from an alleged $600 million debt if he dismissed the case.

Recently, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News and other conservative pundits criticized Vice President Joe Biden for his lack of charitable giving, based on the figures reported on Biden's 2010 income tax return. This attack was made within the context of the push by Biden for the implementation of the Buffett Rule, which calls for the rich to pay more in taxes, and Biden's liberal belief that government should be primarily responsible for helping the nation's poor. Specifically, Biden and his wife listed tax deductible contributions to charities on their 2011 tax return that amounted to just 1.46 percent of their $379,035 income.